Author: Kalantarian Kevo

Tourism: Armenia, where natural beauty, wine and brandy trump a troubled past and a volatile present

Kalantarian Kevo
Economic Times, India


By ET CONTRIBUTORS | Jun 11, 2017, 12.15 AM IST
By Neeta Lal

From a vertiginous 1,476 feet, the almond-coloured cityscape of Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, looks bewitching. A 572-step stairway has transported me to the Mountain Terrace of Cascades, a contemporary art museum and sculpture garden, from where I am soaking in a panorama of terracotta-roofed houses, statuesque buildings and green pastures stretching out to snow-swathed mountains. Above it all soars Mount Ararat where Noah’s Ark is believed to have lande ..

Bucolic locations, monasteries set in tumbling landscapes, gurgling streams, lapis lazuli lakes — Armenia is picture-postcard turf. One of the cradles of civilisation, the pint-sized country was also the first in the world to officially adopt Christianity as the state religion in AD 301. With doughty neighbours (Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Iran) hemming it in, the nation is also at a geopolitical and cultural crossroads. 
The History Museum at Republic Square in Yerevan  
Much of that eclectic heritage is on view at the city’s numerous historic sights. At Matenadran, the museum of ancient manuscripts in Yerevan, we inspect fascinating memorabilia, including scroll upon scroll of medieval parchments and complex documents expounding on everything from geometry and cosmology to theology and poetry.  

  As the world wakes up to the charms of this Caucasian nation of 3 million people, tourism is galloping — at about 25% per year. Effervescent eateries, cafes and malls are mushrooming and stylish hotels are replacing vapid, Soviet inn-type accommodations. 

Yerevan — located 12 km from Turkey — is where Armenia’s heart beats. It has street art-splashed alleys and leafy boulevards sprouting olive, cherry and mulberry trees. Cafés and wine bars remain open until early morning as punters hold chinwag over coffee and gelatos. Locals and tourists stroll along promenades or congregate around musical fountains prancing to classical tunes.  

  Buildings hewn from pinktuff (an igneous rock, formed from the debris ejected by a volcano) give Yerevan a pink glow as well as its moniker, the Pink City. The majestic Republic Square is studded with buildings. I take it all in one evening from a cafe on Abovyan Street while nursing my soorj ( in pic below ), the Armenian coffee prepared in a long-handled, bronze jezve coffee pot that derives its name from the sound of slurping made by a contented coffee drinker ..

Volatile Past
Despite its cosmopolitan facelift, Armenia’s turbulent past still lingers. Roiled by bloody invasions by Romans, Persians, Ottomans and the Soviets, the scars of vicious ethnoterritorial conflicts and economic despair remain.

A visit to the Genocide Monument in Yerevan is a stark reminder of a mass extermination — the Armenian Genocide that killed 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians between 1915 and 1923.
Set on a hilltop, the spot also houses an underground gallery recreating the horror. Outside, a Spartan memorial stands over an eternal flame. There’s also a garden of trees planted by representatives of various nations that recognise the genocide, including the UK, US, France and Russia.

Not all of Armenia’s troubles are in the past.

The country is still bedevilled by the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Azerbaijan that has left it with closed borders. Human rights issues and wrenching poverty add to its woes.

“Today, over two-thirds of Armenians live outside the country and have settled as diaspora communities,” says our guide Sira. The country’s most famous surname must be Kardashian – the socialite Kim Kardashian’s family escaped from Armenia to America in 1913 but they still have strong ties to the country.  In 2015, when the Kardashians went on an eight-day tour of Armenia, it created quite a kerfuffle in the tiny nation.

Magic Mountain
The image of Mount Ararat is a leitmotif in Armenia. Though the mountain was ceded to nearby Turkey in 1923, it continues to be the country’s cultural signature, adorning everything from chocolates to wine bottles to apparel as well as Yerevan’s coat of arms. 

The mount isn’t the country’s only enchantment though. As I travel through dramatic, photogenic gorges and canyons which carve their way across the Caucasus Mountains, monasteries hewn out of the tuff rock, pagan temples, glutinous lakes and churches nestling in desolate locations add to the visual delight. From the Khor Virap Monastery, on Turkey’s border, I take in the view stretching from vineyards to Ararat’s 5,137-m-high summit.

The monastery – lying 30 km south of Yerevan – is a popular, out-of-town retreat. It was in a snake-filled pit below this monastery, the story goes, that St. Gregory the Illuminator, who brought Christianity to the region, spent 12 years.

The Tatev monastery, a ninth century shrine located on a large basalt plateau, stands on the precipice of a deep gorge of the Vorotan River.

A UNESCO World Heritage site, it played a pivotal role in the region’s spiritual, political, cultural and educational history. The trip to the monastery isn’t for the faint-hearted though.

We huddle into the world’s longest reversible cable car line, a 5.7-kilometre engineering feat that spans a spectacular gorge. The car line runs from Halidzor village, connecting Yerevan to the village of Tatev, within walking distance of the monastery.

As we glide over an eye-popping landscape – misty mountains, bridges and glittering rivers – the guide explains that the $18 million cable car was mostly funded by private donations.

“It is part of a $50 million public-private project to develop tourism at Tatev and in the surrounding region, one of the 15 provinces of the ancient kingdom of Armenia,” she adds.

From Tatev, we drive through a mountain bowl at an altitude of about 2 kilometres above sea level to Sevan. The Alpine Lake is one of the largest in the Caucasus region and located 1,897 metres above sea level. Its pristine beauty and powdery beaches are a big lure for tourists, especially the Russian oligarchs who land here discreetly in private jets. Also known as the Armenian Riviera, the lake’s chameleon-like transformation – from Azure to mystic dark blue in the span of a few hours – is mesmerizing.
From the seaside promenade, merely gazing at the waters and beyond is a meditative experience.

Cradle of Wine

You know you are in wine country the moment you land at the Yerevan airport where a 20-feet-tall inflatable wine bottle greets you outside the terminal ( in pic ). Armenia, along with Georgia, Azerbaijan, northern Iran and eastern Turkey constitute what is called the Cradle of Wine in the Caucasus Mountains. Wine-making supposedly originated here in biblical times.)

The meticulous Armenians have kept records of viticulture since Noah’s time when the biblical patriarch planted the first vineyard at the foothills of Mount Ararat. Some of the highest wine-growing regions in the northern hemisphere, diverse microclimate and rich, volcanic soils lend distinct flavours to an array of indigenous grape varietals.
Armenia is also known for brandy production.

Driving around the country, the advertisements for Ararat brandy are everywhere. I take a tour of its factory located in an imposing brick building on a hill overlooking Yerevan.

Here, I learn all about the production of the country’s favourite tipple. Though fruit brandies from apricot, black plums, apples and other fruits, grown in orchards, are quite popular, seasoned Armenian vintners stick to grapes, the guide explains, as we amble down Charles Aznavour Alley stocked with “President’s Barrels” dedicated to Presidents of various countries who had visited the factory, and which were being aged until a President asked for them.  
The guide goes on to narrate an apocryphal story about Armenian brandy: during the Yalta Conference in February 1945, after dinner, the host and Russian leader Josef Stalin asked British Prime Minister Winston Churchill if he wished to have a drink. “I’d like a brandy with my cigar,” boomed Churchill.
Stalin then offered his guest Ararat Dvin, the best Armenian brandy. So enamoured was Churchill of the honey-hued liquor that Stalin instructed that Churchill is presented with a case of Ararat every month. Thereafter, Armenians say, Churchill swore by the three Cs that made his life worth living – cognac (Armenian), cigar (Cuban) and coffee!

The writer is a Delhi-based journalist 

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/travel/armenia-where-natural-beauty-wine-and-brandy-trump-a-troubled-past-and-a-volatile-present/articleshow/59085967.cms




Sports: Chris Eubank Jr to fight Arthur Abraham at Wembley Arena in first defence of IBO super-middleweight title

Kalantarian Kevo 
standard.co.uk
June 6, 2017 Tuesday 11:04 AM GMT
Chris Eubank Jr to fight Arthur Abraham at Wembley Arena in first
defence of IBO super-middleweight title
by Richard Parry
Chris Eubank Jnr will look to defend his IBO super-middleweight title
against Arthur Abraham.
The fight is expected to take place at Wembley Arena on Saturday July
15, with ITV once again set to televise the event.
The broadcaster screened Eubank Jnr's victory over Renold Quilan in
February which handed the 27-year-old the title, but the Brit now
faces a different proposition in Abraham.
Born in Armenia before moving to Germany at the age of 15, Avetik
Abrahamyan - better known as Arthur Abraham - is a former three-time,
two-weight world champion.
Holding both German and American citizenship, the 37-year-old is a
heavily experienced operator, with 51 bouts to his name compared to
Eubank's 25.
A fight against a boxer ten-years his senior is comparable to Anthony
Joshua's bout with Wladimir Klitschko in April, but Eubank is
considered a heavier favourite.
But since losing his last world championship to Gilberto Ramirez, and
deciding against retirement, the 37-year-old has seen an upturn in
form.
It will be Abraham's first fight in the UK, and though the underdog
going into this fight, Eubank cannot take anything for granted.

Chess: Armenia’s Hrant Melkumyan closely trailing leader of European Chess Championship

Kalantarian Kevo
Panorama, Armenia
June 3 2017

At Round 4 of European Individual Chess Championship 2017 (398 participants, 11-round Swiss system), Ukrainian GM Yuriy Kuzubov defeated Armenia’s Artashes Minasian and solely led the table.

18 chess players, including Armenian representative Hrant Melkumyan are half a point behind the leader. Gabriel Sargsyan, Artashes Minasian, Arman Pashikian, Manuel Petrosyan, Tigran Harutyunyan and Arman Mikaelyan have scored 3 points each.

To note, European Individual Chess Championship 2017 is a qualification event for the next World Cup. According to FIDE regulations and the decision of the ECU Board, 22 participants will be qualified for the world chess tournament.

BAKU: Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform issues statement on Vahan Martirosyan

Kalantarian Kevo
APA, Azerbaijan

“Vahan Martirosyan, who was repeatedly persecuted in Armenia, was forced to leave his homeland. He continued his peacekeeping ideas after moving to Ukraine”, says the statement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace, APA reports. 

 

However, a group of criminals which established their power based on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno Karabakh conflict, opposing to application of international norms and principles to this conflict and showing interest in maintaining the existing status-quo, found Vahan Martirosyan in Ukraine. “Vahan Martirosyan facing pressure from people, who continue the occupation policy and don’t want peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, addressed a video to the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace. He repeatedly mentioned European Institutions and International organizations in the message and it is clear evidence that the cooperation between the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Platform and these organizations cause concern of people, who don’t want peace between the two nations. European parliamentarians’ visit to the region, support for the initiative of Peace Platform’s participation in the European Union‘s programs caused concern of the enemies of peace.  Member of Parliament Kyiv Regional Rada, ethnic armenian Armen Shaharyants faced the same problem when he issued statement on joining the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace. It caused great interest of Armenians. It didn’t happen due to pressures. Similar events occur regarding the activity of the Peace Platform. Fore example,

a young writer Lusine Nersisyan, who is living in Khankendi, left the Peace Platform under pressure and a number of Armenian activists are fearing from joining the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace, but are always supporting us.

 

Peacekeeping requires great sacrifice, courage and effort. As the Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace, we understand that Vahan Martirosyan would be unable to take part in the process of peace-building under total pressure of the Armenian power structures and express gratitude to him for going with us through this difficult path. This once again proves that growing international support for the Peace Platform disturbs some forces that regard the establishment of peace, the peaceful coexistence of the Armenian and Azerbaijani peoples dangerous for their continued existence. As a result of it, the pressure on the Peace Platform increases. Peaceful representatives of Armenia and Azerbaijan should cooperate more actively with the Peace Platform as a protest to the forces that oppose this fragile peacemaking process. International Organizations should properly assess the uniqueness of the Peace Platform and strengthen relations with the platform for establishing trust between the two peoples.  For this reason, we call upon all international organizations that want peace in the region to help and contribute to the breakthrough in peacekeeping activities in order to unite efforts and ensure the protection of the rights of Armenians and Azerbaijanis. The Armenia-Azerbaijan Platform for Peace will continue to intensively pursue its activities for reconciliation of the two peoples and the peaceful settlement of the conflict,” says the statement.

Armenian Genocide recognition by Texas is clear response to brazen conduct of Turks in Washington: Vice-Speaker Sharmazanov

Kalantarian Kevo 
Armenpress News Agency, Armenia
May 20, 2017 Saturday
 Armenian Genocide recognition by Texas is clear response to brazen
conduct of Turks in Washington: Vice-Speaker Sharmazanov
YEREVAN, MAY 20, ARMENPRESS. Vice Speaker of Armenia’s Parliament
Eduard Sharmazanov thanked the US Texas House of Representatives from
the Parliament’s floor for recognizing and condemning the Armenian
Genocide.
“Texas is the 46th US state to recognize and condemn the Armenian
Genocide. I believe we must welcome this step and thank our American
partners for this step”, Sharmazanov said during the Parliament
session.
He emphasized that this step of the Texas House of Representatives was
a very clear response to Turkey’s denial policy and the recent
impudent conduct of Turks in Washington.
On May 16, Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians and Kurds held a protest
against Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Washington
outside the Turkish Ambassador’s residence.
Erdogan’s security detail violently attacked and battered the peaceful
protesters.
Later, the Voice of America released a footage showing personally
Erdogan giving orders to his bodyguards.
Erdogan calmly watches how his security detail is beating up the
protesters, including women, and then a few bodyguards hurry back to
the president to brief him.

Film: Oscar awarded movie maker Started shooting a film about Armenian Genocide.

Kalantarian Kevo 
ARMINFO News Agency, Armenia
 Saturday
Oscar awarded movie maker Started shooting a film about Armenian Genocide.
Yerevan May 20
Sona Aznauryan.
Famous Indian Movie Maker Shekhar Kapur started to shoot a film about
Armenian Genocide based on the novel called " Three Apples Fell Down
From the Sky"
The film deals with the systematic extermination of minority Armenians
in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) by the Ottoman Empire during and after
the Wolrd War I (1915-1923).
Kapur had recently tweeted that he was going to Yerevan, Armenia's
capital, to collect material on the event. The idea, he said, came to
him from a script sent by the man who wrote "Motorcyle Diaries". "It
is a part of world history though a very shameful one," Kapur told
IANS .
"The idea came to me based on a script sent to me by the screenwriter
of 'Motorcycle Diaries' (Puerto Rican Jose Rivera). I fell in love
with the script. It is a challenging project though. It will require
lots of money, lots of passion and organisation. But there are a lot
of passionate people behind this project. So it will hopefully see the
light of day," he said.
However, filming of the movie will not start before another year, says
Kapur, who is yet to begin work on his long-pending movie on water
wars, "Paani".
The Armenian genocide is a particularly touchy topic in the political
state that succeeded the Ottoman Sultanate in 1923, Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk's Republic of Turkey.

Will Trump enter religious tug-of-war in trip to Holy Sepulchre?

Kalantarian Kevo
Jerusalem Post


Will Trump enter religious tug-of-war in trip to Holy Sepulchre? 
   

BySeth J. Frantzman
02:35

Christian worshippers in Israel surround the Edicule as they take part in a Sunday Easter mass procession in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalems Old City. (photo credit:REUTERS)

According to an insider in one of the churches planning the visit of US President Donald Trump to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Monday, potential religious complications were smoothed over at the last minute. Representatives of the Catholic, Armenian and Greek-Orthodox church will meet the president but questions remain about the route he will take and the inclusion of a scout troop and choirs. It may take on more importance and meaning after questions emerged over whether Trump will visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Trump is expected to visit the Sepulchre in the early afternoon after meeting with President Reuven Rivlin. It is not usual for sitting US presidents to visit the Holy Sepulchre. Bill Clinton did it in 2005 after he was out of office, but a source in one of the churches couldn’t recall any other visits in recent memory. It is more usual for them to visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.  Because Jerusalem is so fraught with political and religious tensions, they are warned off the visit by their local diplomats. “Normally if a president wants to go to the Sepulchre, they [diplomats] will tell him it is a bad idea,” said the church insider. Because of the uncertainty of protocol surrounding the visit the Greek Orthodox, according to the source, asked that scouts accompany the president sometime after he enters Jaffa gate. This may cause tensions with the Armenians who see any representation by the Greeks as an infringement of their rights. Because Trump is visiting the Vatican after Israel, the Catholics may be less concerned about needing face-time with the president. Security will be very tight for the visit, with parts of the Old City being closed down from the early morning Monday.

The visit has faced a struggle in planning due to its uncertainty and details were being worked out to the last minute. Often the churches have months, even the better part of a year, to plan a high profile visit, such as the one by Pope John Paul II. If all goes according to plan, according to the source, Trump will be accompanied by the Orthodox Arab scouts to the courtyard of the church will he will meet representatives of the church, likely to include Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem Nourhan Manougian, Custos of the Holy Land Fr. Francesco Patton, and Greek-Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III. The church will be empty of worshipers and there are questions as to whether a carpet will be placed between the entrance and the Stone of Unction where worshipers traditionally kneel. Trump was quoted in Politico in 2011 as saying he was a Presbyterian. He will receive a tour of the Holy Sepulchre, which has recently had restorations at the tomb of Jesus.  According to the church source three choirs, one from the Catholics, Orthodox and Armenians, will be present.

The US president has to navigate a religious minefield in his visit. In 2011 Armenian and Greek-Orthodox priests came to blows in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem over accusation one group was encroaching on the other. Trump may just want a tour of the holiest church in the Christian world, but these groups take seriously every step and handshake and who is represented so that each church’s rights and privileges are maintained and they are properly represented. Although Israel provides some security for the visit, there are issues of coordination involved because the US does not officially recognize Israel’s sovereignty in the Old City or the West Bank. Here the Jordanians likely come into play and Prince Ghazi Bin Mohammad’s close relationship with the churches and Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate. This is important for coordination and ensuring it runs smoothly in what is a sensitive site.

Microsoft warns ransomware cyber-attack is a wake-up call

Kalantarian Kevo 
Photo: Reuters

 

A cyber-attack that has hit 150 countries since Friday should be treated by governments around the world as a “wake-up call”, Microsoft says, the BBC reports.

It blamed governments for storing data on software vulnerabilities which could then be accessed by hackers.

It says the latest virus exploits a flaw in Microsoft Windows identified by, and stolen from, US intelligence.

There are fears of more “ransomware” attacks as people begin work on Monday, although few have been reported so far.

Many firms have had experts working over the weekend to prevent new infections. The virus took control of users’ files and demanded $300 payments to restore access.

The spread of the WannaCry ransomware attack slowed over the weekend but the respite might only be brief, experts have said. More than 200,000 computers have been affected so far.

‘Oldest human’ dies in Indonesia ‘aged 146’

Kalantarian Kevo 
Photo: EPA

 

The Indonesian man who claimed to be 146 years old – the longest living human ever – has died in his village in Central Java, the BBC reports.

According to his papers, Sodimedjo, also known as Mbah Ghoto (grandpa Ghoto), was born in December 1870.

But Indonesia only started recording births in 1900 – and there have been mistakes before.

Yet officials told the BBC his papers were valid, based on documents he provided and interviews with him.

Armenian, Jewish communities to jointly commemorate Holocaust and Armenian Genocide in Florida

Kalantarian Kevo

Armenian Weekly – As Armenians and Jews around world will gather this month to commemorate Yom HaShoah and Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, which happen to fall on the same day this year, Congregation B’nai Israel and the Armenian Genocide Commemoration, Inc. have organized a joint program of remembrance with a screening of the critically acclaimed film Denial at Congregation B’nai Israel, 2200 Yamato Road, Boca Raton, Fla. 33431 on April 23 at 6 p.m.

Based on the book Denial: Holocaust History on Trial, Denial recounts Deborah E. Lipstadt’s (Academy Award® winner Rachel Weisz) legal battle for historical truth against David Irving (BAFTA nominee Timothy Spall), who accused her of libel when she declared him a Holocaust denier. In the English legal system, in cases of libel, the burden of proof is on the defendant, therefore it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team, led by Richard Rampton (Academy Award® nominee Tom Wilkinson), to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust occurred.

“The Armenian and Jewish communities have a shared historical pain.  Our religions may be different, but our stories are the same.  Families broken apart and slaughtered in campaigns of ethnic cleansing that took millions of lives from us, an uprooting of a people and a way of life, our survival and that we have not only survived but thrived, and a vow to remember and never forget” commented Arsine Kaloustian, the Chair of Armenian Genocide Commemoration, Inc.  “We also share the vigilance against any denial of these atrocities, which makes the theme of the film so relevant for both communities,” she added.

The program will begin with a catered welcome reception, while a multi-panel presentation on prejudice and genocide given created by students from Palm Beach Central High School will be on public display.  Local Armenian and Jewish community leaders will then deliver brief remarks and discuss the importance of the film. After the film screening, the evening will conclude with an interfaith candlelit prayer service from local religious leaders.

“We human beings, created in the divine image, have a Godly responsibility to speak out and act against the atrocity of the extermination of any people because of their race, religion, or ethnicity. Too often people are complicit in their silence against those who would deny such a holocaust. The lessons of history must be studied and learned so that we might chart a better course for humanity. It does not do justice to our Godly responsibilities to ignore, deny, or reframe human history,” stated Rabbi Robert A. Silvers of Congregation B’nai Israel.

The event is free and open to the public. Members of the media are also invited to participate. Space is limited and RSVP is required. Please register online at: www.rememberthem.eventbrite.com.